On the Ledge
by peanut2lb
Summary: Two-Shot Tag to Loa Aloha. The morning after Matt's departure all Danny wants to feel is numb. Back on that familair ledge who will talk him down?
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N:_**I sat down to write and this is what came out. My tag on Loa Aloha. Danny told Steve that when Rachel left him that Matt showed up every night with a six-pack to talk him off the ledge...

_Danny Williams was spiraling out of control. The pain of losing Matty was more than he could handle and all he wanted was to feel numb…_

The following morning Rachel padded down the stairs to find a host of beer cans and two wine bottles strewn all over her living room. Now Danny had never been a wine person per say but after he'd polished off the last of Stan's Shiner Bock, he'd gone for Rachel's wine rack.

"Oh Daniel…" she frowned taking in the sight of her ex. Danny was sprawled out haphazardly across her crouch, his head solidly against the arm rest with one arm pressed over his face while the rest of his body hung awkwardly of the side of her leather sectional. There was no doubt in her mind that he was going to be in a world of pain when he awoke.

Kneeling, Rachel started to gently shake the sleeping detective. "Danny, Danny…you have to wake up."

A groan emitted from his dry cracked lips and soon blue irises became small blurry slits.

Closing her eyes, Rachel pressed her forehead against his. "Danny, you have to go. Grace will be up soon and I don't want her to see you this way." She hated herself for the fact that she was just kicking him out but the thought of Grace coming down the stairs to a less than the perfect father was more than she could bear. Danny had already lost Matt, there was no way she was going to let him lose Grace too.

He mumbled something incoherent, making Rachel wonder if he was sober enough to drive.

"Let me call you a cab." She offered only to have him wave her away.

She watched as he collected his himself and shuffled out the mammoth front door.

Standing with her hand pressed against the glass, she felt her heart ache as he slid into the driver's seat of his car and peeled out of the drive. Danny s shouldn't be going through this she thought feel the stab in the center of her chest explode. Danny was a good person. He deserved better.

He'd been gone exactly five minutes when Rachel heard a vibration coming from the vicinity of the couch. Danny had left his cell phone stuck between the sofa cushions.

"Hello?" she answered her accent thick.

"Rachel?" McGarrett's voice sprang back in surprise.

"Danny was here all night," she replied picking up on the worry in Steve's voice. "But he's gone now. I've never seen him act this way. I'm worried."

"Where was he going?" Steve's voice returned with a sense of urgency.

"I don't know," Rachel's voice cracked. "He'd been drinking all night and I told him he needed to leave so that Grace… He left his phone."

"Ok, ok…" Steve's voice was now the essence of calm. "I need you to tell me what happened. Where is Matt?"

"I don't know. All he said was that he had lost him!"

"Damn."

* * *

Steve ended the call just as two FBI agents assigned to Matt's case walked into his office.

"I don't know where he is." Steve said reading their minds as Agent Kipton tossed him a look. Steve knew why they were there. They were pissed about the little white lie he'd told them about Matt having a boat off of the North Shore.

Remembering that he was dealing with the Governor's golden boy, Kipton extended an olive branch. "I don't want to bust your partner. All I need to know is that he wasn't an accessory to Matthew Williams's sudden disappearance."

"He wasn't. You have my word," Steve shot back, hoping the man would respect the word of a Navy Seal.

Kipton shook his head. "Your word sent us on a wild goose chase."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Steve lied, determined to protect his partner. "If you weren't fast enough to catch Matt that's not my problem."

Kipton raised a hand. "I already told you. I'm not after your partner. For what's its worth. I've got a brother who's currently serving 10-20 for armed robbery. I happen to know a little about what Williams is going through."

Steve shook his head. "I don't know where Danny is but I can assure you, he doesn't know anything. Matt pulled the wool over his eyes, betrayed his trust."

"That's not good enough," Kipton frowned. "I need his formal statement within 24 hours otherwise; I'm going to have to consider him an accessory. And McGarrett, I'll be watching the clock."

* * *

The Camaro flew down the Kapala Highway at a smooth 80mph making Danny oblivious to the fact that he was speeding. The lights were on no one was going to stop him. For what it was worth he didn't care. All he wanted to do was to escape, the fire that was building inside of his chest.

He wasn't sure where he was going but again he didn't care. His first stop had been just outside Rachel's front gate, where he had violently emptied the contents of his stomach all over her rose bushes. He actually felt kind of bad about that but felt certain that she would forgive him.

Next, he'd stopped off at Dickie's all night liquor and bought himself a fifth of Vodka and a case of beer. He hadn't opened it yet but as soon as he got to wherever he was going he intended on downing it, his plan being to drink all of the pain away.

Yep, it had worked when Rachel left him, so he saw no reason why it wouldn't work now and to think he would have Matty to thank for it. After all, Matt had been the one who'd willingly brought him a six-pack every night for six months after Rachel had left.

He was going to drink until he couldn't feel anything. In fact, Danny Williams never wanted to feel the pain of _anyone_ ever leaving him again.

* * *

Steve raked a hand over his face as the clock struck noon. It had been four hours since he'd spoken to Rachel and he'd yet to find one sign of Danny. Chin had tried to locate the Camaro by tapping into the GPS but so far nothing had come back making Steve wonder if Danny had been smart enough to find a way to disable it. That's what he would have done if he didn't want to be found.

Now the question was where would Danny go? The island wasn't that big but if a haole wanted to get lost it wouldn't be that hard. Danny had been on the island for a year now and was proficient at knowing his way around.

Standing over the console, Steve pulled up a map. "I think we can eliminate Waikiki and the jungle." He told Chin and Kono.

Kono reached out and touched the screen. "Unless, Rachel gave him a lot of money, I think we can cross off all of the major resorts as well."

"Danny would most likely go to places that make him feel comfortable," Chin added clearing some territory of his own. "Somewhere away from the limelight; low-key sports bars, parks, residential areas, maybe even a low budget motel."

"Let's split up," Steve suggested delving out various locations across the Island.

"What about an APB?" Kono asked, prompting Steve to shake his head.

"No, we take care of our own. When we find Danny, he's probably not going to himself. So, I don't want any outsiders involved in this." Steve wasn't sure what he was going to find when they finally located Danny but one thing was certain, the Jersey bred detective was going to be in bad shape.

* * *

Nightfall came and Steve found himself starting to panic. He had less than 12 hours to deliver Danny to Kipton. To make matters worse he was running out of areas to search. Between, himself, Kono and Chin they had already covered three-quarters of the Island and then some. He was just about to start heading into the jungle when his cell phone rang.

It was Kamekono.

"Hey Brah, I think you need to come out to my place. There's someone here you should see."

"Damn," Steve swore flipping the Silverado for a U-Turn. Danny was with Kamekono? That was the last thing he would have expected.

Kamekono's home was deep seeded in a beautiful hilly area on the traditional side of the island, his porch overlooking a large cliff. "I came home to pick up some more blue coconut syrup and found the haole sitting on my porch. I think he's been like that all day. "

Kamekono pointed out Danny's slouched and sulking features as he sat at one of the patio tables with an impressive stack of beer cans towered on the table. "The fool cleaned out my refrigerator to make room for his beer, so I took his keys. I figured something must have happened to Miss Grace."

"Grace is fine." Steve assured patting Kamekono on the arm before crossing the porch and taking the chair adjacent to Danny's. Reaching across the table, Steve grabbed the last unopened beer bottle, popped the top and took a long pull. For better than an hour he said nothing as Danny continued to stare out over the picturesque cliff, a half empty beer bottle frozen in his hand.

Bloodshot eyes, rumpled clothing, and flushed cheeks told Steve that Danny had swallowed more alcohol than his fill. Given, what Rachel and Kamekono had said he was surprised that his partner was still breathing.

Glancing at his watch, he knew he was going to have to call Kipton and negotiate for more time. There was no way that Danny was going to be able to give anyone a statement on anything any time soon and for now that was fine with him.

Sensing he was in for the long haul, Steve took another swallow deciding that he would be on Danny's doorstep every night with a six-pack for however long it took.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: For those of you familiar with SPN Danny is going to pull a Dean Winchester. Thanks so much to those who have alerted this story and reviewed. I originally intended for this to be just a one-shot but it seems to have spiraled into something more.

_The term 'partner' means that sometimes you have to stand on the ledge and watch your partner fall…_

Steve wasn't pleased when he watched his partner start his day off with a Bloody Mary but he understood. Danny was in pain and this was way of dealing with it. Grief and denial were funny things; they both had a way of changing you into something you were not. Now mind you, until last night Steve had never seen Danny drink more than one or two, beers at a time so this was new experience for him. He'd seen plenty of men in the Navy drown their sorrows with alcohol and though it wasn't his personal preference he understood the numbing effect it had on the soul. The only problem being to stay numb meant you had to keep drinking. Knowing Danny as well as Steve did, the Navy Seal felt confident that the hard drinking wouldn't last much longer.

After all how much more could Danny's body endure? The man had already polished off more than a case and a half of beer, two bottles of wine, a fifth of Absolute Vodka, and now a Bloody Mary in a time span of less than 36 hours. It had to stop at some point.

The Jersey born detective had yet to say anything about his encounter with Matt and Steve decided it was best not to push. Danny would talk to him when he was ready. Until then, Steve would be content just to watch and make sure that Danny didn't become a danger to himself.

The ride from Kamekona's place to Danny's had been quite a one (mainly due to fact that that Danny slept most of the way).

When the Silverado came to a halt in front of Danny's complex, the blond slid out of the cab with a stumble but managed to keep his balance.

"I told Kipton we'd meet him at the office at noon. So, I'll pick you up in a couple of hours." Steve said from the driver's seat as Danny pinched the bridge of his nose against the bright sunlight.

"I appreciate your offer to baby-sit but I can get to work just fine on my own." Danny returned, noting his prize muscle car was parked in its customary spot thanks to Chin and Kono. At some point, they had showed up at Kamekona's to brief Steve on the funeral arrangements for the children of Judge Kamalei and DPA Chen and then offered to take the car back to Danny's place.

"Danny—" Steve began to protest but the look on Danny's face stopped him.

"I'll be there. I'm just going to go inside and take a shower and then I'll be there. " It was more like he was going to go inside and die on the fold out couch. His eyeballs felt like they were going to explode and his forehead felt like someone had nailed him with a two-by-four. Even his hair hurt but the strange thing was Danny Williams didn't care. The physical pain from the hangover was sure a hell of a lot better than the ache in his chest where his heart used to be. First, Rachel had torn it out and now Matt?

No matter what he had to do he definitely wasn't going to set himself up for that again.

* * *

From his office, Steve watched as Kipton began to pace in the conference room. Danny was 55 minutes late. Damn, Steve thought slapping the file folder in his hand against the desk. Crossing the hallway, he entered the conference room quickly coming up with a plausible excuse.

"I just talk to Danny. He's got a flat tire. He'll be here as soon as he can."

Kipton raised an eyebrow of disbelief. He was just about to say something when the 5'5 detective came through the door, clean shaven, sporting his blue raspberry colored shirt and navy Dockers. "Sorry, I'm late. I had car trouble."

Danny locked eyes with his partner hoping that Steve would once again cover for him. The truth was he'd been at Waiamea Airlines trying to get a copy of Matt's itinerary. But as luck would have it the airline still seemingly had no record of Matt Williams or Matt's third grade gym teacher chartering a plane out of Hono. Supposedly, their computer system had been hit with a nasty virus that conveniently wiped out their last six months worth of transactions.

"Like I told you, flat tire," Steve said again watching Kipton nod, content.

Steve rolled his eyes heavenward offering a silent word of thanks as Kipton began to take Danny's statement. As least this would get the FBI off Danny's back.

Or not… Kipton just had to end everything with one last dig.

"You know its department policy that we keep tabs on you until your brother is found. So, if you should hear from him, call me before we have to come to you."

"Sadly, as soon as you leave I plan on losing your number," Danny retorted rolling his bloodshot eyes.

Kipton glared at the shorter man pointing a finger "I'm serious Williams, if we find anything linking you to your brother's sudden disappearance your life will over."

"Are you pointing your finger at me?" Danny shot back, pulling a Steve as he got right into Kipton's face. " DON'T. YOU. EVER. point your finger at me! Cause if you do, I'll throw you down and beat your secret agent ass until you can't get up!"

"Enough!" Steve intervened, stepping up to his partner's side. The last thing they needed was for Danny to take a swing at Kipton and end up in jail.

Kipton smelled the linger of alcohol as soon as the detective had entered the room. The man was either seriously hung-over or he'd just come from the bar. "Listen," he started with a smile. "I respect what you're going through and I'm willing to cut you some slack but if you cross that line, not even the Governor will be able to help you."

Danny lunged forward, only to have Steve latch onto his bicep. Nostrils still flaring, the blonde swore a string of colorful comments as Kipton and his partner made their way out the door. "Did you hear what that bozo said to me?"

"He was just following procedure." Steve defended making his partner's blue eyes grow wide.

"PROCEDURE? YOU ARE GOING TO TELL ME ABOUT PROCEDURE!"

"NO, But unfortunately Kipton has a point," Steve returned. IF you know…"

Danny put his hand up, silencing anymore that Steve might have wanted to say. "You know what? I can't be here right now. I can't be here having a conversation with you about my brother—"

Steve pursed his lips, bobbing his head, "Ok, take the rest of the day. In fact, take as much time as you need. Go home sober up and then call me when you're ready to come back or…just call me if you need anything-"

* * *

Once again, Danny found himself driving aimlessly. He knew he should be at home sleeping off the hangover from hell but he was just too keyed up. No matter what he did the anxiety and pain over Matt's actions would not let him go. He needed something to calm him down.

But what? He'd already tried alcohol and aside from giving him a stroke inducing headache, it had done nothing to take his mind off of Matt.

Veering off the side of the road, Danny drove the Camaro onto an isolated section of the beach and turned the engine off. Making sure that there was no one around, he circled around and popped the trunk where he took out the Louisville Slugger that he toted around just in case Grace suddenly had an urge to learn how to crack a bat.

Crossing back to the front of the car, Danny did the only thing he could think of. Pulling the bat back, he took a mighty swing and slammed the Louisville into the windshield, spider webbing the glass.

"You stupid, son of bitch!" he swore taking another swing, this time striking the hood. "How could you?

"HOW COULD YOU?" he repeated, taking a second crack at the glass.

"WHY? DIDN'T MOM and DAD RAISE YOU BETTER THAN THAT?" _Bam, right into the center of the hood._

"WASN'T I A GOOD BIG BROTHER TO YOU?" _The driver side mirror went flying._

"DIDN'T I TRY TO TEACH YOU RIGHT FROM WRONG?" _Glass from the driver's window shattered into the front seat._

"HUH?" _A muscle jarring, bone tingling crack just above the front driver's side tire._

The pummeling of the car continued until Danny had successfully managed to break out the front and side windows, along with the side view mirrors, and leaving the hood to look like it had been through a West Texas hail storm several times over. The front end was almost completely destroyed.

Exhausted and sick, Danny tossed the bat into the sand and dropped to his knees. He couldn't take anymore. Uncontrollably tears were sliding down his face like slithering snakes and no matter how he tried to quit they just kept coming. Damn it. He never cried like this. Not even when Rachel had left him.

"Why?" he croaked softly before turning up the volume. "WHY!"


End file.
